Sidelights

After a long career in the music industry, Roger Ames was named chief
executive officer of Warner Music Group in 1999. Ames had previously held
executive positions at PolyGram and London Records. Though he faced early
challenges as Warner's CEO, he enjoyed the confidence of his
superiors. However, after a few years with the company, he left to become
an advisor to Time Warner.

Ames was born around 1950 in Trinidad, where he received his education. By
the mid-1970s, Ames was living in the United Kingdom and working in the
music industry. In 1975, he was employed by EMI

Roger Ames

in the Artists & Repertoire (A&R) department. He also
worked for EMI's international department. Four years later, Ames
moved on to Phonogram Records, which was part of PolyGram.

By the early 1980s, Ames was working at London Records as the head of
A&R. In 1983, he was promoted to general manager. He later became
manager-director and, with Tracey Bennett, part owner of the label. During
his tenure at London, Ames had a hand in developing important acts
including Bronski Beat and its lead singer Jimmy Somerville, Fine Young
Cannibals, Bananarama, and Shakespeare's Sister. He also helped
artists from the United States, like Los Lobos and Faith No More, gain
attention outside their native country.

In 1992, Ames was promoted to chief executive officer and chairman of
PolyGram U.K., replacing the retiring Maurice Oberstein, who was stepping
down from these positions while retaining his affiliation with PolyGram
International. (London Records was part of PolyGram in the United
Kingdom.) This marked the first time someone with an background in
A&R was put in charge of the label. When Ames took over on January
1, 1993, PolyGram was the leading record company in Britain. Ames was
responsible
for all of PolyGram's interests in the U.K. and Ireland, including
film distribution. Despite the promotion, Ames kept his stake in London
Records and constructed his contract so that this would not create a
conflict of interest.

Four years later, in the spring of 1996, Ames was named president of the
PolyGram Music Group and executive vice president of PolyGram Group. This
meant that he was head of all of PolyGram's labels worldwide as
well as music publishing, pop marketing, and some financial aspects of
PolyGram. Ames remained based in London and continued to retain his
interest in London Records. At the time, PolyGram maintained the largest
market share of any music company in the world, but was facing competition
and did not see its net worth grow in 1995.

Though Ames was picked in part because he already had positive
relationships with PolyGram's United States labels, he faced an
immediate challenge when he had to integrate the Motown label into the
company. This proved difficult to accomplish. During his short tenure in
the position, Ames was criticized for his inability to create an effective
team and his concern for his own interests. These problems did not matter
when Ames was forced out of his post in late 1998, when Seagram purchased
PolyGram.

In April of 1999, Ames was hired as part of the senior management group at
Warner Music International (WMI). He was hired in part because of his long
professional relationship with Ramon Lopez, the chairman and CEO of WMI.
They had worked together at EMI and PolyGram. Ames was named president and
focused his attention on the European operations. His goal was to improve
the overseas operation of the music side of the business that had been
faltering. One sticking point of the deal was Ames' financial
interest in London Records, which he did not want to relinquish. A deal
for distribution of London Records through Warner Music had to be
negotiated.

In August of 1999 Ames was named chair and CEO of Warner Music Group, a
division of WMI. He relocated to New York City where the new headquarters
would be based. Warner Music had a long history of dominance in the United
States, but had been suffering from declining market share and management
problems for some time. The hiring of Ames marked the first time in nearly
20 years that someone from the music industry headed Warner Music. Some
were surprised by the move, while others thought it was a good choice.
When the announcement was made, Andrew Pollack of the
New York Times
wrote, "Some industry executives praised Mr. Ames as having a good
mix of creative talent and business acumen, avoiding the extravagant
spending that sometimes occurs in the record business."

Ames' affiliation with London Records continued to be something
Warner had to deal with until late 1999 when Warner bought the label.
London Records was then a part of Warner via Sire Records, a subsidiary of
the company. Under the leadership of Ames, Warner began to turn around. By
the end of 2000, the label was number four in sales. Early in his tenure,
Ames tried to do something radical to improve Warner's status: he
worked out a merger between Warner Music and EMI. This shook up the
company that had grown staid. However, threats from European regulators
related to Time Warner's merging with AOL (America Online) made
Time Warner (the parent company of Warner Music Group) back off and the
deal never went through.

In 2001, Warner Music began reducing staff, offering early retirements and
layoffs. Ames became known for his no-nonsense talk and attention to the
bottom line. His strategy seemed to pay off. By late 2001, Warner Music
was back to number two in sales.

In 2002, in a continuing attempt to streamline the company, Ames had
Warner Music get rid of the Tommy Boy Records imprint. Under the
deal's terms, Warner would retain ownership of Tommy Boy's
catalog, music publishing rights, and around a dozen acts. Label founder
Tom Silverman was given a payout of what was said to be less than $10
million. He retained the label's brand name and several artists.
While Ames consolidated or shut down joint-ventures, he also increased
spending on "A&R, promotion, and marketing—to improve
artist development and exposure," wrote
Variety
's Justin Oppelaar.

On November 22, 2003, in an effort to reduce its debt load, Time Warner
announced that it had agreed to sell Warner Music for $2.6 billion to a
group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. Bronfman would become the
head of the new company while Ames was supposed to take the No. 2 spot.
However, he was not assigned a formal title, and instead served as a
consultant to the company. In
August of 2004, Ames told employees that he would be leaving Warner Music
to become an advisor to former employer Time Warner.